Succession Planting

One of the secrets to a steady supply of food from the garden is "succession planting."

All plants follow a cycle from sprouting to maturity, and by factoring this into your garden calendar, you can maximize the output from your garden.

For example, about a month ago, I planted lettuce in both my greenhouse and in a raised bed in the garden. Because of the added warmth, the lettuce inside the greenhouse came up first and grew much faster, so that after about 3 weeks we were able to begin harvesting, picking off enough outer leaves for a salad at dinner each night.

As we move from April into May, the rising outdoor temperatures will cause the greenhouse lettuce to mature quickly and then bolt, becoming bitter.

If I have my timing right, right about then my lettuce in the outdoor raised bed should be just getting to the perfect stage for picking!

About 4 weeks after the initial lettuce planting in both greenhouse and raised bed, we put in several more rows of lettuce seed for a third harvest this spring.

We will repeat this 1-2 more times before the summer temperatures hit and it becomes too hot for the lettuce seed to germinate or for the plants to do well.

Succession planting can be applied to many different crops in the garden.

We plant a new batch of sweet corn every 2 to 3 weeks. However you also want to pay attention to the estimated days to maturity listed on the seed packet. For our first, early corn, we plant a variety that matures in 65 days. With the next batch we'll use a variety that takes 75 days until maturity. Days to maturity can also be affected by the length of the day or total hours of sunlight. As the summer days get longer, your harvest may turn out to be sooner than expected.

We do a planting of summer squash, yellow crookneck and zucchini, about ever 4 weeks. We set out our first tomato plants at the beginning of May, followed by another batch of plants in mid to late June. The first planting of tomato vines will usually die off by September, overcome by the heat and the annual blight, but the secondary planting will continue putting out until the killer frost.

Succession planting = Good planning!

Raised Beds

Raised beds are a popular way to create an instant garden. Build your boxes and then fill with a mix of compost, peat moss, top soil and any other soil amendments. You may want to add significant amounts of sand to beds that will be used for carrots and other root vegetables.

Because you establish the soil mix, raised beds are easy to work by hand. They can be built deep with the soil level high above the ground so there is less stooping over, important for those with aging backs.

The beds in the photo to the right are constructed from the latest version of treated wood, said to be non-toxic and safe for food production. For my new beds, I opted for cypress boards, a wood naturally resistant to rot and insect damage.

Around here, another primary incentive for raised beds is to prevent damage from moles and voles, of which we have an abundant supply. The small, square holes of steel hardware cloth placed on the bottom of the raised bed prevent these critters from feasting on root crops like white potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and beets.

Moles don't eat plants, only insects, worms and grubs, but they will chew through roots as they make a tunnel, killing the plant above. When a plant suddenly dies for no reason, moles are often the culprit. On the other hand, we have seen whole plants disappear, pulled down in the ground by a vole.

The one downside to raised beds: moisture. Water flows down hill and will drain out of your beds into the lower ground below, leaving your plants literally high and dry. An irrigation system is a must in summer, ideally one controlled by a timer that automatically waters your plants according to a set schedule. A good, heavy mulch around your plants can make a huge difference for holding on to moisture.

Speaking On the Road

To augment my work with Village Media and Green Life Retreats, I am embarking on a new career path as a lecturer and speaker, focusing especially on reaching young people in colleges and universities. This will coincide with the release of my new book, Out To Change the World, which is looking good to be released by next year.

I am hopeful that my message of living green will resonate with audiences far and wide, and that those in charge of student activities will view my talks as a refreshing alternative to the more traditional speakers focused on material success.

To help launch this effort, and establish my credentials, I have created a new web site, www.douglasstevenson.com, that will have my extended bio, descriptions of my lecture topics, and contact information.

You can help. If you have any contacts with schools or organizations who book speakers, please let me know. If you have attended any of my presentations or retreats and would like to offer a comment, along with your name, occupation and location, that I could use in my promotion, please send it my way.

I will keep you posted as this develops.
A BIG THANKS to all of you for your time, attention and support!

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com